{"id":552364,"date":"2026-04-26T22:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T22:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/552364\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T22:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T22:58:10","slug":"uk-urged-to-deploy-eu-style-trade-bazooka-against-trumps-tariffs-international-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/552364\/","title":{"rendered":"UK urged to deploy EU-style \u2018trade bazooka\u2019 against Trump\u2019s tariffs | International trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

UK business leaders have called on the government to build an EU-style \u201ctrade bazooka\u201d to protect Britain\u2019s economic interests in response to the latest tariff threats from Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As transatlantic tensions rise, the British Chambers of Commerce said the UK\u2019s \u201cinadequate economic security\u201d was putting growth and jobs at risk.<\/p>\n

The lobby group, which represents thousands of firms, urged Keir Starmer to take the lead in protecting Britain from external crises, saying there had been \u201cyears of neglect by successive governments\u201d.<\/p>\n

Geopolitical tensions, the impact of Brexit, the Covid pandemic, and wars in Ukraine and the Middle East mean UK companies are navigating an increasingly fraught global backdrop for international trade.<\/p>\n

The US president last week threatened to impose \u201ca big tariff\u201d on the UK<\/a> unless it drops a digital services tax that impacts US technology companies.<\/p>\n

In a report setting out recommendations to help stop the decline of British competitiveness in an increasingly unstable world, the BCC said urgent steps were required to protect companies from other countries\u2019 punitive trade policies.<\/p>\n

Among its top priorities was for the UK to mimic the EU by creating a \u201ctrade bazooka\u201d to deter other countries from making threats designed to bully Britain into changing its economic policies.<\/p>\n

Brussels\u2019 trade bazooka, more formally known as its anti-coercion instrument, enables the bloc to impose sweeping restrictions on goods and services trade with an aggressor state.<\/p>\n

These can involve limiting access to public procurement programmes and financial markets, as well as restrictions on property rights and foreign direct investment.<\/p>\n

The BCC also urged ministers to take a \u201crobust approach\u201d to the EU\u2019s Made In Europe<\/a> agenda to ensure UK businesses had a role in wider European supply chains. It called for UK firms to play a bigger role in UK defence procurement, and for the prime minister to create a new economic security cabinet committee.<\/p>\n

The BCC said in its report: \u201cThe government must add a \u2018trade bazooka\u2019 to its arsenal of responses to threats of economic coercion.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew legislation should include powers for ministers to use a range of levers, from duties to market access, to enhanced investment scrutiny and subsidy control. But there must also be appropriate safeguards to protect UK commercial interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shevaun Haviland, the director general of the BCC, said it was clear that the government should prepare to take a more muscular response amid the increasingly fraught global landscape.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UK\u2019s inadequate economic security has become a drag on growth, competitiveness and national strength; yet it is still not given the focus and urgency it demands,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The UK\u2019s minister for trade, Chris Bryant, said: \u201cThis report correctly identifies that free and fair trade is essential to the UK\u2019s prosperity, and we want to ensure open markets aren\u2019t distorted by those who try to use trade as a weapon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019ve already taken action, from identifying eight key sectors as part of our modern industrial strategy to strengthening supply chains to reduce our vulnerability to market shocks, and seeking views if the UK needs additional, last-resort tools to defend against acts of economic pressure if diplomacy isn\u2019t enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cJust last month I was in Europe to lobby on behalf of businesses as part of our Made in Europe campaign, and I look forward to continuing to work with the BCC and stakeholders to keep the UK open and secure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Britain hitting US service-sector firms with retaliatory measures would carry risks given the scale of US economic involvement in the UK.<\/p>\n

The US is Britain\u2019s largest single trading partner, accounting for about a fifth of Britain\u2019s global trade, and US companies also have more than \u00a3640bn invested in the UK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UK business leaders have called on the government to build an EU-style \u201ctrade bazooka\u201d to protect Britain\u2019s economic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552365,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-552364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}